


As We Fade Into The Night

by jiminmeme



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bisexual Steve Rogers, College AU, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fraternities & Sororities, Friends to Lovers, Gay Bucky Barnes, If You Squint - Freeform, Jewish Bucky Barnes, M/M, Meet-Cute, Meeting the Parents, Misunderstandings, Romance, Slow Burn, Thanksgiving, basically a rom com, but not really, let me know if these tags make any sense lol, sorry that my summary is shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25229326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiminmeme/pseuds/jiminmeme
Summary: Bucky was stood up by his date to a party, so he pretends that Steve is his date. Wait, he's going along with it?Based off of of the second prompt fromthistumblr post.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 27
Kudos: 179





	1. Bucky Is An Idiot

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first chaptered fic, and I started writing this during finals week.
> 
> I want to thank my beta Nika for helping me make this fic readable instead of just my brain thoughts.
> 
> I also want to thank Elena for her moral support and proof reading (and letting me sell my pears on her Animal Crossing island).
> 
> I plan on posting a chapter every Sunday.
> 
> The title is a lyric from 5 Seconds of Summer's "Beside You' because they provided my soundtrack when writing this.

The music at the Delta Kappa Psi party blared in Bucky’s ears. He normally didn’t enjoy frat parties, but when your best friend knows the president of the frat, you’re not going to say no to an invite. Plus, a party is a good excuse to get drunk.

Bucky was on his third drink, trying to get as drunk as possible. At some point, he had lost Sam, who had got them in, and Natasha. Sam was probably trying to flirt with a girl enough to get her to hook up with him. Natasha was also probably trying to flirt with that same girl to get her to hook up with her and was most likely doing a better job than Sam.

He’d find them eventually. He didn’t care. He was in a bad mood and wanted the concoction of whatever the hell the frat was serving to help him forget. Meanwhile, he was dancing to Britney (whoever made the playlist had good taste) while gulping down his drink.

He had just gotten a refill and gone upstairs to the dance floor when he ran into Sam.

“Heyyyy, dude,” Bucky said. “What’s up?”

“Let’s just say Natasha has one more hook up than I do,” Sam said, classic red solo cup in hand. He took a morose sip.

“Ah, so she won?” Bucky asked. This always happened at parties.

“I don’t know how she does it,” said Sam, sounding defeated. “I don’t think this girl was even bicurious!”

“You gotta stop trying to pick up girls at parties where you know Nat will be at,” said Bucky. “It never works out in your favor.”

Sam just stared at him. He’d heard this lecture a thousand times before, and he would, ultimately, ignore it for the thousandth time.

There was a lull in the conversation where the two boys just swayed back and forth to the music while sipping on their drinks. Then Sam asked “So you said you had a date? Where is he?”  
Oh shit.

Bucky blanked. He was supposed to have a date. That’s what he told Sam and Nat the whole week. He thought he was going to have a date up until 30 minutes before the party and then elusive, six-pack profile pic on Grindr Josh messaged him,

 **Josh:** _cant make it_

 **Josh:** _sorry :(_

No wonder they canceled “J” names on Twitter years ago.

This was why Bucky was in a bad mood and drinking more than he usually did at parties. But he was too proud to say that his date had canceled on him so he grabbed the nearest pair of biceps and pulled the person attached to them over to stand next to him. “This is my date,” Bucky declared. _Please believe me!_

He looked at the man he had dragged into the situation, and wow. Standing at probably over six feet, definitely taller than Bucky, was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. This Adonis-like figure had the most beautifully coiffed blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, a jawline that could cut a man, and, from when Bucky had kind of groped his arm dragging him over to the conversation, absolutely jacked arms. He had to be as ripped as his arms everywhere else.

He appeared confused, but quickly recovered. “Hi. I’m Steve,” the man—Steve—said smiling and stuck out his hand for Sam to shake. Turned out that not only was Steve ripped, he had the most charming smile Bucky had ever seen. Shit.

Bucky was just looking for a random person to stand in as his date, so he wouldn’t look like a loser to his friends (he’d never been that good when it came to anything resembling a love life). He didn’t expect that out of all the people at the party that night, he would accidentally choose someone that pretty much checked off all the boxes for “his type.” He couldn’t continue on with his life, forgetting that this situation ever happened, when a person that attractive was involved.

Shaking his hand, oblivious to Bucky’s panic, Sam said, “Hey, Steve. So you’re the illustrious ‘date’ Bucky has been telling me about?”

“Illustrious, huh?” Steve looked over at Bucky with a smirk. “But yeah, that’s right!” Another of his charming smiles.

Bucky still couldn’t move.

“How do you two know each other?” asked Sam. Bucky hadn’t really specified that he had met his original date on Grindr. That would have been a little embarrassing, considering the connotation of the app. He told his friends he had a date and answered no other questions.

Fuck. Bucky hadn’t thought this far ahead. Granted, he hadn’t really thought at all during this strange exchange. He was about to open his mouth to stumble through some sort of explanation when Steve coolly said “Writing 101. We were in the same Writing 101 class.”

Writing 101. The writing intro class that all freshmen were required to take. Bucky barely remembered that class. He had been surprised to even pass it considering that it was at eight in the morning. He was pretty sure he would have been slightly more awake in that class if someone as good looking as Steve had been in it.

“That was two years ago,” Sam mused. He looked at Bucky questioningly. “How come you never told me that there was a man this attractive in your class?” Sam was straight but knew a good looking guy when he saw one. If he had been gay, Bucky definitely would have tried to sleep with him by now.

Bucky merely shrugged. He was still too shocked that Steve was going along with this to say anything.

All of a sudden, Natasha came bounding over, putting her arm on Sam’s shoulder. “Hey, is this your date?” Nat asked as she took a sip from her cup.

“Yes,” said Bucky. So he had regained the ability to speak, although his voice may have cracked. He hoped the music was loud enough that neither of his friends nor Steve, especially, heard it.

“Cool,” said Natasha. She looked Steve up and down for a few seconds, analyzing him in a way that freaked Bucky out when they had first met. Over the speakers, an upbeat song started to play. “Oh my god this is my song!” yelled Nat. “Come on!” She grabbed Sam’s hand and dragged him over to the dance floor...which left Bucky alone with Steve.

Bucky took a deep breath and turned to Steve. “I am so sorry for dragging you into this. My date canceled on me last minute, and I would never hear the end of it if my friends found out.” He looked apologetically up to Steve. He didn’t even know if Steve was one of those guys that were super like “no homo” or anything.

“It’s no problem,” remarked Steve with another one of his signature smiles. Bucky was becoming addicted to his smiles. “This party was kind of boring anyways.”

Bucky nervously smiled back at Steve when a voice called out “Hey, Steve!”

“I, uh, got to go,” apologized Steve.

“It’s no problem,” Bucky replied. “Thanks for not making a fool of me in front of my friends.”

Steve flashed him his signature smile and walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Follow me on tumblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_
> 
> See you next week!


	2. This Bitch Again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know I said I would update every Sunday and this is Monday, but let's just pretend I posted it yesterday.

“That’s it for today,” Bucky’s professor said. “I’ll see you all next week.”

Bucky blinked away the daze he’d been in for the past half hour and began to pack up his tools from the engineering lab. He pulled out his phone to text Sam if he wanted to meet up for lunch. He walked out of the room when he heard Tony call his name.

“Bucky! Wait up!” The brunette jogged up to Bucky and began to walk in pace with him. “How far along are you with the project?”

“I’ve started it,” replied Bucky. If you see “starting” by reading over the rubric and never looking at it since, then sure. Bucky had started it.

“Because I’ve been thinking,” Tony began, “maybe you might want to work together?” He put his hands in front of him in a defensive position. “Now, I normally work alone, but we are technically supposed to work with a partner, and you’re the only one who actually puts effort into anything we do in class.”

That surprised Bucky. Tony did indeed work alone. He was considered sort of a genius in the STEM department at their university. After all, he was the son of the renowned scientist Howard Stark. Whenever there was an opportunity to work with Tony, many students tried to get him on their team, despite the fact that the young scientist never really needed anyone’s help with his projects. So it was a bit of a confidence boost for Bucky that Tony asked him to be his partner.

“Uh, yeah,” replied Bucky. “That would be great!”

“Tony!” called a familiar voice.

Bucky turned around and lo and behold, the poor boy that Bucky had dragged into pretending to be his date on Saturday night’s party was swiftly walking towards the pair.

“Hey Steve,” said Tony. “What are you doing here?”

Steve smiled. Bucky’s brain short-circuited.

“Oh well, Pepper saw me heading towards the library and asked if I could drop this off for you since this building’s on the way.” Steve gave Tony a soft smile and handed him what appeared to be a lunchbox.

“Your girlfriend makes you lunch?” asked Bucky, smirking. Pepper Potts was Tony’s girlfriend but was popular in her own right: president of her sorority and one of the top econ majors.  
When Bucky spoke, that was when Steve acknowledged him.

“Bucky, right?” asked Steve.

But before Bucky could respond, Tony interrupted with, “Yes, my girlfriend makes me lunch. There’s nothing weird about it!” He put his arms up in defense. Realizing the familiarity between Steve and Bucky, he asked “Also, how do you two know each other?”

“Well, Bucky,” Steve began. He paused. “Hmm. How do I explain it?”

“It’s nothing!” Bucky quickly interrupted. “We just met at your party on Saturday.”

“Ah,” said Tony raising an eyebrow like that explained everything. Bucky had a sneaking suspicion that Tony was teasing him for not explaining how they exactly met. He was always good at knowing if something was up. He checked the time on his phone. “Well, I gotta run. I have class in fifteen minutes. Glad you two got to talking.”

Tony winked at the both of them and walked out the doors of the massive science building.

Bucky waited until Tony was out of earshot and then turned to Steve.

“You’re not going to tell anyone, right?” he pleaded with Steve.

“If that’s what you want,” replied Steve.

“That would be nice, yeah,” Bucky said trailing off.

He was about to leave when Steve spoke up again.

“Hey, I got to ask a favor of you,” he said slowly.

“A favor?” returned Bucky.

“Well, don’t you think you kind of owe me for Saturday?” asked Steve. “You know, for making me pretend to be your date.”

“I didn’t make you pretend to be anything,” retorted Bucky. “You were the one who went along with it.”

“I assumed you didn’t want to embarrass yourself,” said Steve, smirking.

“Fine,” said Bucky, slightly intrigued. “What do you want?”

“Well,” Steve began, “to make sure we’re even, I was thinking, since we are so good at pretending to be each other’s dates, I was wondering if you could possibly accompany me for the art program’s donor dinner?” He began to look embarrassed. “I mainly need one because as much as we love funding for art programs, talking to donors can get really old, really fast. I need an excuse to stop talking to them.”

“And you need a date for that?” asked Bucky suspiciously.

“Just, please?” begged Steve. He was starting to blush.

“Okay,” said Bucky. He guessed he did kind of owe Steve for throwing him into a situation like the one on Saturday. Besides, Steve did seem like a really nice guy. Bucky wouldn’t mind another friend.

Steve gave a sigh of relief. “Cool.” He paused. “Do you think I could have your number so I could text you the details?”

“Uh, sure?” replied Bucky. A hot guy asking for his number? Bucky would never say no to that.

Steve handed his phone over for Bucky to put his number in.

“Great,” said Steve after Bucky finished and handed him back his phone. “Thank you.”

“It’s a dinner, right?” asked Bucky. “That means there will be food, and I will never say no to free food.”

Steve laughed. “I think any college student would agree with that statement. Well, I don’t want to hold you up any longer! I’m sure you have somewhere to be. Again, thank you,” Steve said sincerely.

“Sure,” said Bucky. “See ya,” and he began to walk away.

“See you,” agreed Steve. He smiled at Bucky, and Bucky smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on tumblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_


	3. Bucky Hasn’t Worn A Suit Since His Sisters’ Bat Mitzvah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting on time this week! yay!

Throughout the rest of the week, Steve would text Bucky joking texts such as

**Steve:** _I hope my handsome date is excited for his big night where I show him off! ;)_

and

**Steve:** _You know you have to wear a suit, right?_

Bucky sent him back a middle finger emoji. Bucky’s not stupid. So what if both times Steve had seen Bucky he had been wearing sweatpants? He just likes to be comfortable, that’s all.

As quickly as Bucky sent his emoji back, the night of the arts donor dinner came.

Steve and Bucky walked into the rotunda of the arts building, and they quickly became surrounded by probably over a hundred donors, dressed in their best evening gear. The boys were also both clothed in suits. Steve wore a navy suit jacket with a white shirt and striped tie. Bucky had to admit that the blue color of Steve’s suit made his crystal blue eyes stand out even more, which, when he had first seen him earlier that evening, made his stomach do a somersault (though good luck trying to get him to admit it). Bucky himself went for a much more classic look: a black suit jacket and white shirt. He did have some sense of style, though, and wore a dark red velvet tie.

Steve quickly poised himself to talk to over-privileged rich people, while Bucky made a beeline to one of the tall tables holding hors d’oeuvres. He grabbed a plate and quickly piled all sorts of things onto it.

Bucky mostly kept to himself for the majority of the dinner, sitting on a bench in the corner as Steve made his rounds talking to each donor with his winning smile. He seemed to have some success, especially with the female donors because each time he finished talking to them, his grin would widen even more, and the respective donor would make their way over to the table where they could then fill out their donation. Every so often, Steve would glance over to Bucky, and give him a smile, closed-mouth, different from what he gave the donors. Bucky blushed each time.

After the hour or so of Bucky stuffing his face and Steve winning over multiple donors, Steve grabbed a plate for himself, filled it with a few snacks, and walked over to Bucky’s secluded corner.

“Having fun?” Steve asked, giving another one of his smiles that he had reserved for Bucky that night.

“If by fun you mean my stomach acid happily breaking down these mini brownies, then sure,” Bucky grinned as he stuffed his last one into his mouth.

Steve quietly laughed. Bucky moved onto his chocolate covered strawberries.

“Yeah, these events can be kind of boring,” Steve agreed. “But they’re necessary to keep programs such as the arts available, even at a big college like ours.”

“Well, you don’t seem to be having that bad of a time,” remarked Bucky, looking at Steve with a suggestive look. “I think at least three of the women you talked to tried to feel up your arms.” He couldn’t blame them. Steve’s suit did nothing to cover up his physique.

Steve laughed bigger this time. “These muscles do help in situations like these.” He was grinning by now. “But to be honest, older women aren’t necessarily my type.”

“What is your type, then?” asked Bucky, but before Steve could respond, they were interrupted by a voice.

“Oh hey.”

Both Bucky and Steve turned and saw Tony and his girlfriend Pepper on his arm, both dressed to the nines for the event.

“Steve, Bucky,” said Tony as he nodded to both of them.

“Hey,” Steve recovered. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh,” Tony smiled. “My parents are always invited to these donor events, which, by proxy, means I am also invited.”

“Valid,” Bucky commented.

“Though, I should be asking what you are doing here,” said Tony, looking at Bucky pointedly. “Since when were you ever involved in the arts?”

“I’ll let you know that I did arts and crafts in elementary school,” Bucky haughtily explained.

Steve, quick as ever, jumped in. “Actually Bucky and I are dating!” He started blushing profusely. “We are allowed a plus one.” He softly smiled at Pepper.

“Huh,” observed Tony. He gestured slowly to Pepper. “We should go on a double date sometime.” Tony looked over his shoulder to see his mother, Bucky believed, waving him over. “Well, nice to see you. Have fun!” They turned to leave.

As the pair walked away, Bucky quickly spun to glare at Steve and angrily whispered, “Why the fuck would you say that we are dating?!”

Steve’s eyes widened. “I panicked?”

“You panicked,” Bucky deadpanned. “Well, thanks to your panicking, now Tony Stark and Pepper Potts of all people think that we’re—” he gestured wildly between the two of them “ _—together._ And I have to see Tony at least once a week for lab, probably more since we are now working on a project together!”

Bucky took a deep breath and then huffed, using all of his strength not to groan out loud.

“Is it that big of a deal?” Steve asked, cautiously looking at Bucky.

Okay. Maybe Bucky was making a bigger deal out of Steve’s excuse than was acceptable for a 20-year-old, but did Steve really have to say that they were dating? Granted, Bucky wouldn’t have minded if he were in a relationship with someone like Steve, but he wasn’t really in the market for love. He was a busy, career-oriented college student. All he really wanted and had time for was hookups.

“Well, if this ends up coming back to bite either of us in the ass, I’m blaming you,” huffed Bucky as he crossed his arms like a five-year-old whose parents wouldn’t buy them a new toy.  
Bucky stared as Steve bumped him with his shoulder.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” said Steve, his nerves seemingly gone, replaced with a smirk. He winked at Bucky as he walked back into the sea of donors.

Bucky just rolled his eyes and looked away.

____________________

It was about an hour after the arts donor dinner had ended, when Bucky was unlocking the door to his apartment that he shared with Sam and Natasha. Steve, ever the gentleman, had driven him back from the event and had even offered to walk Bucky to his door, but Bucky assured him that he was “a big, strong grown-up” and could walk to his door himself.

As he opened the door, he barely had time to put down his keys before Nat sprung on him with a question: “Where were you?”

Bucky may not have told his roommates that he was going to be Steve’s “date”, and had crept out of the apartment without either of his roommates seeing him in his formal attire.

“And why are you wearing a suit?” asked Sam who was sitting on the couch.

“Uh…” Bucky scrambled for an answer. He didn’t want to tell the truth. He just hoped that his friends would forget about Steve, but obviously, that was not the case.

He sighed. “I was with Steve,” he admitted.

“Steve as in party Steve?” asked Nat, walking over to the couch. “Where were you? The opera?”

Honestly, that wouldn’t have been that bad of an excuse. Bucky did like opera, and of course, Nat knew. (No one could ever keep secrets from her, especially after she had found his _Carmen_ DVD.) Though, Bucky was already being honest, so why stop now?

“I was Steve’s date for the arts donor dinner?” he said cautiously.

“He’s an art student?” said Sam. “Not your usual type.”

Bucky sort of made a rule for himself that if he was going to date someone, he would usually go with someone with a more reliable and lucrative career goal. It would make sense that his friends would be surprised.

“Yeah, well,” he grumbled. “We’re dating so…”

Again, if that excuse screwed up his life, he’d be blaming Steve. It was his fault.

“Dating?” asked Natasha, surprised.

“Don’t tell Becca!” Bucky admonished. One of his sisters, Becca, basically idolized Nat.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t,” assured Sam. “But also, were you not going to tell us or?” He trailed off.

“Well,” Bucky started before either of his friends could ask any more questions, “it’s getting late, and I have to wake up kind of early tomorrow. ‘Night,” and with that Bucky walked out of the living room and into his bedroom. That was true. He did have to wake up early. While Steve was driving him home, Tony had texted him asking if he wanted to start working on their project together.

Bucky had hoped that after Steve and him were even, he could just forget about the whole situation, but more of his friends were finding out. Bucky had not planned that. He didn’t even know Steve’s last name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!  
> Follow me on tumblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_


	4. Tony’s Not Always Right

Bucky and Tony had their materials laid out on the table in the empty classroom of the science building, disposable coffee cups littering their work space (mostly Bucky’s—either Tony was a morning person, or had bad insomnia because they were meeting at 8:30 in the morning) as they discussed their project..well, more like argued about it.

“Well, I think,” Tony said loudly, “if the goal is to make the burner cheaper, the diameter of the outlet doesn’t need to be this big! It can easily be shrunk by a centimeter or two!”

“Yeah,” reasoned Bucky, “but, if we’re going to use brass instead of copper, we need to keep the diameter the same. Otherwise, it won’t be as effective as it normally is. The goal is also to make it more efficient.”

“I don’t like you,” frowned Tony. He took a moment to think. “I’m usually the one that’s always right, not the other way around.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well someone has got to knock you down a few pegs,” he said, and he couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across his face.

Tony mirrored his smile. “Pepper does that enough, already,” he laughed.

“Oh, are you sure that’s what she does...with pegs?” Bucky asked, laughing and giving Tony an exaggerated suggestive face.

“Hey,” warned Tony, despite laughing a bit himself.

They both relaxed back into their chairs, calming down from laughing. Tony was the first to break the comfortable silence.

“Hey, about that double date,” he said. “Would you two be open to it?”

“Double date?” Bucky questioned. Then he remembered what Tony had suggested the previous night. “Right,” he said, sobering up. “A double date with Steve and me.”

“Yeah,” said Tony. “You are actually a nice couple. I mean, you are definitely Steve’s type.”

Ah, so Steve was at least bi. Bucky had already started to suspect that Steve wasn’t straight after he lied about them dating. No straight man was that comfortable in his sexuality to pretend to be dating another guy. But Steve’s type? Well, that was awkward, because Steve was Bucky’s type, too. They couldn’t go around catching feelings; they were just bros helping bros...while both being queer.

“Steve’s type?” asked Bucky, hoping Tony would elaborate.

“He likes to pretend he doesn’t have a type,” Tony explained. “But Steve always dates smart brunettes with nice hair.” He paused. “I doubt you know his ex, but she’s also really smart and has nice brown hair.”

Bucky stared. So Steve was definitely bi or pan or something. Bucky didn’t really care. Becca had come out as bi shortly after Bucky had come out as gay, so obviously he wouldn’t have an issue with it.

Tony must have mistaken his staring for jealousy because he quickly assured. “Don’t worry. They broke up like a year ago. You’re definitely not a rebound.”

“Cool,” acknowledged Bucky, casually. He didn’t really care because they weren’t really dating. Right?

“Anyway, if you want to go on a double date,” Tony reiterated, “I think it could be fun.”

“Uh, okay,” said Bucky, not really listening anymore. He had gotten distracted by the simulation of their project on his laptop. “Don’t you think there should be a single on and off switch instead of two separate ones?”

As Bucky gestured to his computer screen, Tony leaned over. “Oh yeah,” he said. “It makes no sense why there would be two.”  
____________________

The boys continued with the project, their previous conversation all but forgotten until Bucky got a text an hour after they decided to stop.

**Steve:** _Tony said you agreed to a double date with us?_

What?

**Bucky:** _uh no i dont think i did_

**Steve:** _Well, that’s not what Tony said. He said that he asked if we would go on a double date with him and Pepper, and you said “okay.”_

Did he? Oh crap, maybe he did.

**Bucky:** _uh sorry? i guess i did_

**Steve:** _Well I guess we’re going on a date with them? Tony suggests next Friday._

Well, shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked my terrible pegging joke!
> 
> Follow me on tumblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_


	5. More Fake Dates Than Real Dates

Friday came around more quickly than Bucky would have liked. It was not that Bucky didn’t like hanging out with Steve. He was actually a really cool person. He also didn’t mind that he would be going on a double “date” with Tony and Pepper. Tony was one of his friends, and Pepper was a really charming woman. The thing was that Bucky was starting to worry that if he and Steve kept this up any longer, they might end up going on more fake dates than Bucky had been on real dates. He hated to admit that his dating life had always been pretty dry.

The two “couples” had made a group chat earlier in the week to discuss what they would be doing for their double date. Steve suggested that they’d go on a classic dinner date, and Tony proposed a nearby diner, one loved by pretty much the entire student population. This worried Bucky even more. What if more people he or Steve knew would be there?

Steve, being the gentleman that he was, picked Bucky up from his apartment and drove the both of them to the diner. Much more casual than their last “date,” Bucky chose to wear a light blue t-shirt and a brown bomber jacket—due to the cooler fall weather—with dark blue jeans. Steve wore a blue and white checked button-up with the first few buttons undone and some light blue jeans that had Bucky slyly checking out his ass more than a few times. As they walked into the cozy diner, Tony and Pepper were already there in the small waiting area in the front. Bucky quickly scanned the diner for anyone that he knew. Thankfully, there seemed to be nobody familiar.

A waitress escorted the four to a nice corner booth and handed them their menus. Bucky looked over the menu even though he knew exactly what he was going to get: a classic grilled cheese. It was what he always had at this diner because frankly, it slapped.

It actually was quite a nice fake date. The conversation went smoothly since none of them were strangers. Tony and Bucky argued a little about their project as their “dates” looked on with amusement, Pepper told them about a philanthropy event that her sorority was hosting and suggested that they all come, and Steve told some pretty funny jokes that Bucky found himself laughing at a bit more than he normally would have. As Bucky was again driven home, he realized that being in a fake relationship wasn’t all that bad as he had thought. Both times he had gotten food out of it (Steve even paid for his dinner!), and out of all people to be fake dating, Steve definitely was not the worst person to have as a fake boyfriend. Maybe after this was all over, they could still be friends.

Steve slowly braked the car as he approached Bucky’s apartment building.

Bucky wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say after a particularly nice fake date, so he just turned to Steve, smiled awkwardly, and said “Thanks. Uh, have a good night,” and left the car. He turned around once he had opened the front door to the complex and saw Steve still parked by the curb. Steve smiled and waved at him. He only drove off after Bucky had waved back and closed the door.  
____________________

The fall semester continued, and therefore, the ruse continued.

As Bucky was in line at the campus Starbucks to get his very much needed third cup of coffee of the day, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around, and behind him in the line was Steve, beaming.

“Oh, hey Steve,” said Bucky greeting his fake boyfriend.

“Hey!” Steve said enthusiastically.

“You’re not usually _this_ chipper,” Bucky remarked. “What’s up?”

Without hesitating, as if he was waiting to tell practically anybody Steve announced, “I just saw my grade for a quiz in my art history class, that I was really worried about.” His smile grew. “I aced it!”

“That’s great!” Bucky replied.

Steve grinned.

Bucky got up to the counter and ordered his drink, a vanilla sweet cream cold brew. Scrolling aimlessly on his phone waiting for his name to be called, he sat down at the closest table to study for a quiz of his own. While Steve may have aced his quiz, Bucky was a little worried about a quiz that he had coming up. He probably wasn’t going to fail it, but it never hurt to put in a little bit more studying.

A minute or two later, Steve walked up to his table and asked, “Hey do you mind if I sit with you? It’d be less lonely than sitting by myself...”

Bucky looked up at Steve. “Sure. I don’t mind,” he replied. He looked down at his notes, but looked up as Steve pulled a drawing tablet out of his backpack. “Whatcha drawing?” he queried.  
“I’m not sure, yet,” Steve admitted. “I guess I’ll just draw whatever catches my eye?”

Bucky didn’t know much about how art classes worked and if you could draw just anything, but it sounded like a plan to him, and he mentioned just that.

They sat, both studying and drawing respectively, at the table for about thirty minutes when Bucky got interrupted by a text:

 **Natasha:** _A study date, I see ;)_

Bucky was about to respond with a “??”, but he then looked up and saw Natasha across the Starbucks. He waved slightly at her, but then quickly looked down at his physics equations, again.

_Please don’t come over, please don’t come over, oh god you’re coming over!_

Obviously, Natasha being who she was, came over to Bucky and Steve’s table.

“Hey, Steve,” she said, looking at the man.

Steve looked up from his drawing tablet. From what Bucky could see from the angle he was at, it looked like it was a start of a face. “Natasha, right?” Steve asked. They both had versed each other on their respective friends once they decided this fake dating thing was getting serious.

“That’s me,” she replied. She looked at her roommate. “Oh, Bucky. I think it’s your turn to buy toilet paper. Just reminding you because we have like one roll left.”

“Thanks for that,” he grimaced, giving her a look like _really? You couldn’t have texted me that? There’s a hot boy next to me_ or at least that was what he tried to convey.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “I got to get to my next class,” she said. “Nice seeing you both.” Then pointing to Bucky, “Toilet paper!”

“Okay!” Bucky mouthed. He then looked at Steve and plainly said, “I live with her.”

“Oh really?” Steve mused, raising an eyebrow. “Her mentioning toilet paper totally didn’t give that away."

“Hey!” Bucky nudged Steve with his shoulder.

Bucky looked towards the door in which Natasha had gone out of. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty that he was keeping a secret from one of his closest friends.  
____________________

Around midterms week, Bucky got another text from Steve saying:

**Steve:** _Hey, you’re pretty good at physics, right?_

**Bucky:** _yes..._

**Steve:** _Well, I was wondering if you could help me study for my physics midterm?_

**Bucky:** _ur an ARTS major. y the hell r u taking physics?!_

**Steve:** _I like physics._

**Bucky:** _liar. no one likes physics_

**Bucky:** _try again_

 **Steve:** _Okay fine. I put off taking the science gen ed and physics was the only class with space..._

**Steve:** _But it’s not that bad of a class. Though there is a reason I’m an arts major and not a science major…_

Bucky just rolled his eyes and fiddled a bit with the small motor he was fixing until his phone buzzed again.

**Steve:** _Please help me study!_

**Bucky:** _fine. ur buying me coffee though_

**Steve:** _That’s fine by me._

Steve and Bucky met at the campus Starbucks the next day. While Steve bought Bucky his compensational coffee, Bucky took a look at Steve’s study guide.

After helping Steve actually understand some basic physics equations, Bucky’s phone suddenly went off. He looked to see who was calling, and it was one of his younger sisters, Becca. (She’s secretly his favorite, but shhhh).

“Let me take this,” he told Steve. They rarely called each other. Their main form of communication was text message or Instagram DMs of memes. “Becca?” he asked.

“Why didn’t you tell me you have a boyfriend?!” his sister practically yelled through the phone.

“What?” Bucky questioned.

“A boyfriend?” Becca repeated herself. “You might forget this sometimes, but your buddy Tony is still the son of one of the most famous scientists in the world! He’s also particularly conventionally attractive, so there are entire Twitter accounts dedicated to him!”

“...What does this have to do with me having a ‘boyfriend?’” asked Bucky. His sister did tend to go on tangents, but one on Tony was new. Steve gave him a confused look. Bucky just shrugged.

“Well one of those Twitter stans apparently saw pepperony going on a date, snapped a photo of them, and now it’s trending on Twitter!” exclaimed Becca, using the internet’s ship name for Tony and Pepper. She then added accusingly. “And guess who’s also in the photo? You, and what appears to be an extremely attractive boy! Did you go on a double date with pepperony?”

“Uh, Becks, I’ll have to call you back,” Bucky said quickly, and hung up. He told Steve a tl;dr of what his sister had told him and then opened his Twitter app to check the “Trending” page.

Trending:

#PewdiepieCancelled

#TonyStark

Jungkook

#pepperonydate

Huskies v Wildcats

#doubledate

Shit. Three of the trending hashtags were about their double “date” from a month ago, he assumed.

Bucky turned his phone to show Steve.

Steve began to look a little worried, biting his lip.

“This has gone too far,” Bucky admitted, overwhelmed. “Now the entire fucking world or at least all of stan Twitter think we’re,” he gestured dramatically between the two of them, “dating! And I don’t know which is worse!”

Steve just looked at Bucky with an unreadable expression.

Bucky’s phone buzzed again. His mom had just texted in the family group chat:

**Mama:** _James Buchanan!_

**Mama:** _A boyfriend?_

**Mama:** _And you’re not going to tell your own mother?!_

She had then sent a screenshot of a tweet with the damning photo. (He had known it was a bad thing to help his parents set up social media accounts.) It was from a side angle, showing Tony and Pepper’s profiles, but also Bucky and Steve’s...in HD quality. Did the person who took the photo carry around a fucking professional photography camera with them or something?!

His family’s group chat, which not only included his immediate family, but most of his extended family as well, started flooding with texts from aunts and uncles who never were really involved in his dating life (but he guessed they were now!) to his cousins and younger sisters who didn’t really care about him, but were very interested if Steve happened to have a brother or sister that shared his DNA. His phone was buzzing so much that a few people at nearby tables turned to look at him with annoyed faces.

“Sorry,” he whispered and turned off his ringer. He let out a short, mirthless laugh. “Fuck.” Despite the situation, he started to smile. “Well—” He took a deep breath, and turned to Steve. “Well, more people know,” he said, kind of shrugging.

“I guess they do,” replied Steve, clearly in over his head. If Bucky made a big deal out of things, his family made a much bigger deal out of them.  
“First my sister finds out, which could be fine,” Bucky started ranting. “But I was stupid enough to let my mom get a Twitter, especially since her celebrity crush is Howard Stark, and now she’s told my entire extended family—and there are a lot of us.” He can’t seem to stop talking. “My cousins couldn’t give a shit about my romantic life, but they are asking if you have a twin—”

“—I don’t,” interjected Steve.

“Which you don’t!” agreed Bucky. He turned an upset face to Steve. “Why?”

Steve gave Bucky an apologetic look, and put his hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

“And this was going to be my year,” Bucky muttered to himself.

He looked miserably down at his phone. His family was still asking him tons of questions but was also gossiping like he wasn’t also in the group chat.

Hoping Steve would have an idea, he asked “What do I say? Like, do I tell them the truth?”

Steve paused for a bit. “I guess tell them the truth” suggested Steve, more serious than appropriate for the situation, Bucky thought. He glanced suspiciously at Steve.

Bucky took a deep breath. “Fine.”

Bucky held up his phone and typed in the group chat:

**Bucky:** _yes, hes my boyfriend_

He thought for a moment, and then sent:

**Bucky:** _no, he doesnt have a twin. hes an only child_

One of his aunt’s texted quickly back:

**Aunt Barbara:** _what’s his name?_

Bucky tilted his head at Steve. “They want to know your name.”

“You can tell them,” Steve encouraged. Bucky gave him a worried glance. Personally, Bucky didn’t know if he would have agreed, but he trusted Steve’s judgement.

**Bucky:** _his name is steve_

**Mama:** _You should invite him to Thanksgiving!_

“No,” announced Bucky aloud as he texted exactly that to the group chat.

“No, what?” asked Steve curiously.

“My mom suggested I invite you to Thanksgiving!” revealed Bucky. “I obviously said no.”

“Why?” asked Steve.

“Why? ‘Cause it’s a crazy idea, that’s why!” Bucky emphasized. “You surely have better things to do than come to our crazy Barnes Thanksgiving!”

“Well, aren’t we both from Brooklyn?” asked Steve. “If you’re celebrating the holiday at home, I could come over for a bit? It’s not like my Thanksgiving celebration is elaborate or anything.”

“Are you sure?” asked Bucky slowly. “My family members will ask extremely intimate questions about you.” He made sure to emphasize “extremely.”

“I don’t really mind,” smiled Steve. He smirked. “Besides, I am very good at charming pretty much anyone over forty.”

“That’s oddly specific,” muttered Bucky. He remembered the arts donor dinner and how Steve effortlessly charmed the donors out of their money. “If you say so.”

**Bucky:** _fine_

**Bucky:** _he can come to thanksgiving_

**Bucky:** _just promise to not be weird_

His dad texted back:

**Dad:** _No promises! ;)_

Bucky just rolled his eyes.

Bucky looked at Steve with raised eyebrows. “I guess you’re coming to the Barnes Thanksgiving extravaganza!” Bucky looked at the sky, taking it all in. This will certainly be an interesting Thanksgiving, he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's excited for the Barnes Thanksgiving next week?
> 
> Follow me on tumblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_


	6. A Barnes Thanksgiving

After both Bucky and Steve’s classes let out the Friday before Thanksgiving, they shared an Uber to the city to catch the same train headed to Penn Station. While on the three hour train ride, Bucky quizzed Steve on his large family: who was most likely to ask Steve extremely invasive questions, how to deal with the annoying little cousins, and some tips on how to charm his mother, the most important person in his life.

By the time they reached the city, Steve seemed to be as prepared as he possibly could for meeting Bucky’s family. They both got on the blue line at Penn Station and rode together until the Fulton St stop where they both transferred to different lines. They said their goodbyes, and as Bucky sat on the subway home, he prayed that he made a good decision by agreeing to Steve joining his family’s Thanksgiving. He didn’t know if sweet summer child Steve would be able to handle his crazy family.  
____________________

The second Bucky opened the front door to his family’s apartment and touched the mezuzah, Winifred Barnes engulfed him in a hug.

“You’re home!” his mother exclaimed. “I’ve missed you so much, zeeskeit!”

“Hi, mom,” Bucky replied, muffled by the hug. “It’s not like you said that every time you called...or that you have three other children to keep you company or anything.”

His mother finally pulled away. “James, you are my only son. Am I not allowed to miss my only son?”

“Yeah, I guess you are,” Bucky mumbled, blushing.

“Now! Go put your suitcase in your room! I just cooked dinner, and I look forward to hearing all about your Steve!”  
____________________

That evening Bucky answered his parents and three younger sisters, Becca and twins Madison and Melissa’s questions about Steve: how did they meet (Bucky told them the Writing 101 story), what did Steve major in, where in Brooklyn he was from, and, for his sisters, if he was sure he didn’t have any siblings that shared his genes.

Through the rest of the weekend and beginning of the next week, his family didn’t bother him too much about Steve knowing that the rest of the family visiting for the holiday would bug him about his “boyfriend” even more than they did.

Most of his family didn’t stray too far from the city so Thursday morning was when his large extended family started arriving. First, his mom’s two sisters and respective families arrived. Next were his dad’s older brother and his family. Lastly were his grandparents on both sides. In total, the entire Barnes family came in at a little under twenty (and around ten cheek pinches/kisses), and he apartment was starting to get a little cramped. He was forced to socialize with family while dinner was still being prepared and got at least a dozen questions about when Steve was going to arrive. He assured his relatives that Steve would be arriving shortly, and texted him to double-check with him.

**Bucky:** _u on ur way?_

**Steve:** _Yep! Just got on the subway!_

About ten minutes after Bucky received the text, he heard the doorbell ring over the chatter of the assorted Barneses. He quickly went to the door before anyone else could and opened it. Standing on the welcome mat was a put-together Steve in a crisp button-up and dress pants holding a tupperware of some sort of casserole. He was wearing a small smile that made Bucky’s heart inappropriately flutter.

“Hi,” said Bucky.

“Hi,” echoed Steve.

They stood at the doorstep for a few seconds in a slightly awkward silence before Bucky remembered, “Oh! Let me take that!” and held his hands out to take the casserole.  
“Oh, yeah,” said Steve, handing over the tupperware. “It's a green bean casserole! I made sure that it was kosher!”

“That’s nice,” mentioned Bucky. “My immediate family isn’t that strict when it comes to keeping kosher, but I’m sure my grandparents and some others will really appreciate it.” As Bucky led Steve into the small foyer, he pointed out a coat hanger on which Steve could hang his jacket. As he headed to the kitchen to put down Steve’s dish, he noticed the man was trailing him with a lost look on his face.

“What, too many people?” Bucky joked.

“No, not really,” replied Steve. “But the way you described your family, I was worried I was going to be jumped the minute I walked into your apartment.”

“Oh,” understood Bucky. “Just you wait. They haven’t noticed you yet.”

He was too busy weaving through the people to hear Steve mutter “...and it’s also a lot of people for a family…”

Bucky and Steve walked through the swinging doors of the kitchen, and as Bucky placed down the casserole, Steve was finally jumped by his first family member: Becca.

“Oh my god, are you Steve?” she asked him excitedly.

Steve put on his charming smile and replied, “That’s me!”

“Bucky had the nerve to not tell us that you two were dating!” Becca said.

Steve looked expectantly at Bucky, and Bucky glared at Becca. She was his favorite sister, but she could be a little intense at first.

Changing the subject, Bucky asked “Have you seen mom? Steve was nice enough to bring some food.”

“Uh, yeah,” replied Becca. “I think she went to the bathroom.” She paused and then added, “How many people jumped you while you were on your way here?” looking at Steve.

“Surprisingly, no one,” replied Steve.

“I think there were too many Barneses in the living room, that they didn’t notice one more person,” added Bucky. Then, looking at Steve, “but there is still a whole Thanksgiving dinner to get through. Prepare yourself.”

Steve laughed, making Bucky’s stomach flutter for the second time within the past five minutes. “I will!”

Just as Steve spoke, Bucky’s mother walked in.

Noticing Steve, she excitedly asked “Oh, are you my chunky monkey’s boyfriend?”

Before Steve could respond she pulled him into a bear hug, and as Steve was slowly being smothered, Steve mouthed to him “chunky monkey?” grinning.

“Mom,” started Bucky, “what did I say about that nickname?”

Letting Steve go, but not after she kissed his forehead, Winifred Barnes said sarcastically “That you’re an adult and shouldn’t be called that anymore...sheifale.”

“Mom!” exclaimed Bucky exasperatedly. He looked at Steve, praying that he didn’t know Yiddish. Steve just shrugged.

“You know,” his mother started. She beamed at Steve. “Bucky has never brought home a boy before.”

Bucky glared at his mother and, changing the subject, mentioned, “Oh! Steve brought a green bean casserole,” and gestured to the dish.

His mom turned from placing cranberry sauce into a large dish to face Steve and declared, “Oh, you’re too sweet, darling!”

Steve grinned. “It’s the least I could do.”

“Well, that will be a great addition to our Thanksgiving dinner,” she replied, and gestured to Becca who was watching the scenario play out in amusement. “Go get your sisters and set the table. Dinner is almost ready!”

As Becca left the kitchen, Bucky stepped over to Steve and added with a roll of the eyes, “Welcome to the mess that is a Barnes family event! Prepare for more of that.”

“Bucky, would you and Steve please bring the dishes outside to the table?” Winnie asked, and squeezed Steve’s bicep affectionately.

“On it,” Bucky said, turning around and mouthing a quick “sorry” to Steve.

Steve just smiled and shook his head, dismissing it. They both picked up a dish and brought it out to the extended dining room table.

Once both the dining table and the kid’s table next to it were set and all the dishes were out, Bucky’s mom walked out of the kitchen, and with a raised voice one only gets from bringing up four rowdy children, she announced “Dinner’s ready!”

That interrupted the loud chatter of Bucky’s family, and they slowly made their way to their assigned places. Bucky, being in college, got to sit at the normal dining table, but Becca, a senior in high school, still had to sit at the children’s table, and she made it very clear from her glare towards Bucky, that she was not okay with babysitting the mostly much younger children.

Bucky just blew her a sarcastic kiss.

Once everyone was sitting down, Steve and his sandy blond hair stood out amongst the mostly brunette Barneses. While dishes began being passed around the questions started, all directed towards Steve.

Bucky’s uncle David asked “So what do you study at university?”

“How did you two meet?” queried Bucky’s aunt Joan.

Bucky began piling mashed potatoes onto his plate as Steve answered the assorted introductory questions:

“I study art” and “We met through a mutual friend.”

When Bucky passed the potatoes to Steve, he returned an appreciative smile.

Right as Steve took a big bite of his cauliflower, Bucky’s aunt Eliza asked “So Steve, tell us about your family?”

Steve quickly chewed and swallowed his food. “What about?”

“Well,” she started, “tell us about your parents? Where’s your family from?”

“Oh,” said Steve. “Um, it’s just me and my mom.” He paused. “My dad actually left before I was born, so I never met him.”

Bucky realized that Steve never really talked much about his family. He wondered if this was why.

“But my mom,” Steve continued, “is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. She managed to take care of little, sickly me when I was growing up, while still working full time as a nurse.”

Bucky’s mom, who was sitting on the other side of Bucky, whispered to him “A nurse. They have to be smart.”

Steve continued talking. “As for where my family is from, my mom’s parents are from Ireland, I think the same for my dad.”

Bucky heard a mutter of “Oh” around the table of adults. It had become pretty quiet since Steve had started talking, with the only sound in the apartment coming from the children’s table where some of the little kids were shrieking and laughing, not caring about the details of this random stranger’s life.

Bucky’s grandmother spoke next. “Since your family is from Ireland, I assume you are Catholic.”

Steve slowly nodded, looking at Bucky, not sure where this was leading.

“Well,” said Bucky’s grandmother, “if you two end up getting married and having kids, how would you raise them? Jewish or Catholic?”

Steve’s eyes widened and he looked at Bucky.

Bucky gave a look along the lines of “I told you so!” It wasn’t unusual for his grandmother to ask questions about having children to the young adult Barneses and their partners. He had seen it happen before to some of his older cousins.

“Um,” Steve responded. “I don’t know.” He was speaking slowly. “We haven’t really talked about that…”

“Um, Grandma?” Bucky interjected. “Maybe we could talk about this at a later time?”

“Well,” replied Bucky’s grandmother, ignoring Bucky. “You two should start talking about your future. You are both juniors in college, after all.”

Steve started to look a little panicked, but thankfully, one of Bucky’s uncles changed the subject with another, less-invasive question. Bucky could see that Steve breathed a small sigh of relief, once the subject was changed.

Dinner slowly came to a close with assorted types of pies. Bucky took a hefty slice of the apple pie while Steve cut himself a piece of pumpkin.

“Really?” asked Bucky. “You like pumpkin pie?”

“What, you don’t?” challenged Steve.

“Yeah, it’s gross,” said Bucky.

“Well, no one asked you to comment,” replied Steve smugly as he lifted a large forkful of his slice to his lips.

“I can’t believe we’re dating,” said Bucky jokingly, rolling his eyes.  
____________________

Steve helped Bucky’s family clean up while a few of Bucky’s uncles turned on the TV to watch football, and the younger cousins ran around the living room.

Bucky was getting a little tired of being around his overbearing family so he headed to his room and asked Steve if he would like to come along. Steve agreed, and despite getting stopped by a few family members, they made it to Bucky’s small room.

It was dimly lit by a lamp on Bucky’s bedside table. The walls were covered in assorted posters, mostly for the few concerts he had attended, including one or two One Direction ones that Becca had dragged him to. (He had to admit, their music wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be.) There was a small desk and bookshelf directly across from the door that was covered with some of Bucky’s engineering homework as well as a few textbooks. Bucky’s twin bed had some Harry Potter sheets on it from his childhood.

Bucky quietly closed the door behind him while Steve was looking around the room in slight awe then noticing the Harry Potter sheets.

“Harry Potter sheets?” he questioned.

“Hey,” defended Bucky. “Despite Joanne being a terf, those books slapped.”

Steve chuckled. “I think I had the same ones.”

They fell into a comfortable silence. Bucky crossed the room to sit on his bed, while Steve sat on the chair by the desk.

“Hey,” Steve said quietly. “You made your family seem much worse than they actually are, you know.”

“They went easy on you this time,” joked Bucky.

“Does your grandma normally ask those types of questions to the partners of her grandchildren?” Steve asked.

“Sometimes,” replied Bucky. “I think she is kind of concerned about me though since I’m gay. She really wants a lot of grandchildren.”

Steve stayed quiet and then asked, “Do you want kids?”

Bucky hadn’t necessarily thought about his future in the terms of family. He never really had considered what his life would be like if he got married, let alone with kids.

“I don’t know,” he responded honestly. “I’ve never really thought about it.”

“I do,” declared Steve. “I love kids. I would want to give them the best childhood that they can have since my mom didn’t have all that much time for me because of her job.”

“You sounded like you love her a lot,” mentioned Bucky, referring to Steve’s answer to one of the questions at dinner.

“I do,” said Steve. “I was really sick and weak when I was younger, and she did her best trying to make sure I got better each time.”

“She sounds wonderful,” responded Bucky.

Steve smiled. “She is.”

“Why did you get sick a lot when you were a kid,” queried Bucky.

“I don’t know,” replied Steve. “I was really little and weak, and then suddenly I had a growth spurt in high school and stopped getting really sick.”

They fell into silence once again.

Steve looked out the window and then at his watch.

“It’s getting late,” he noticed. “I should probably get going.”

“Okay,” said Bucky a little disappointed. This was probably one of the most intimate conversations he and Steve had had, and he was enjoying seeing a softer, more sentimental side of Steve. “I’ll walk you out.”

“Thanks,” replied Steve. He looked a little disappointed, too.

They walked through the apartment again. Steve grabbed his coat, and Bucky opened the door to the apartment. He walked a little out of the apartment following Steve towards the elevator.

“It was nice having you,” added Bucky. It seemed that Steve got along pretty well with his family, and his mom really liked him, which was very important to Bucky. He gave Steve a genuine smile.

“It was nice for you to have me,” replied Steve, smiling. He looked down and started picking at his cuticles.

“Well,” started Bucky. “I’ll—”

But before Bucky could finish his goodbye, Steve had grabbed his face and kissed him. It was a nice kiss and Bucky was about to start kissing back, but before he could, Steve pulled away, breathless.

He looked like he was about to say something, but decided against it and walked swiftly towards the elevator.

Bucky was left staring at his retreating back, and then the doors of the elevator as they closed. Steve pointedly did not make eye contact as the doors closed.

Bucky stood staring at the elevator doors for a long while, probably a while after Steve had left the building and even gotten on the subway home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever a post a new chapter I avoid reading it. Like, it's done, it's left my mind! No more thoughts!
> 
> Follow me on tumblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_


	7. Bucky Isn’t Avoiding Steve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I moved to a new apartment this week, and I didn't have internet until today. I was worried I wouldn't be able to post this chapter!

Quickly, the Thanksgiving weekend came to a close, and soon Bucky was on the train back upstate. For the rest of Thanksgiving and the break, Bucky couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. Why had Steve kissed him? They were just playing a ruse. It wasn’t anything serious, right?

Bucky remembered the butterflies he had gotten several times during the holiday but quickly pushed them aside. He only felt those because Steve just so happened to be hot, and not because he liked him. Yeah, that was it. He didn’t want to ruin the friendship that him and Steve had formed.

The kiss was nice, though. Steve’s lips were soft, and his hands felt warm and strong holding Bucky’s head. _No. Stop thinking about it! It’s not important. Just get through these next two weeks. Then it’s finals and you can go home. You can make up a lie about you two breaking up or something._

Fortunately, Steve and Bucky didn’t get the same train back, so Bucky had a whole three hours to brood over all the confusing thoughts and feelings that he was having.

When the train pulled up to the station, Bucky grabbed his suitcase and got off. He opened his phone and requested an Uber to pick him up. He was still so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed the text from the driver saying that they were here.

He was mostly quiet during the ride to his apartment. Thankfully, the driver wasn’t one of the talkative ones. Bucky would not have been able to deal with having to make small talk right then.

Bucky was dropped off in front of his apartment complex. He went into the lobby, checked his mailbox for any mail—there was a letter for Sam—and went up the stairs to his apartment. He unlocked the door, and it appeared that neither of his roommates was back yet. The living room and kitchen area were still dark. Bucky switched on the light by the door, placed down Sam’s letter, and walked towards his room. He placed his suitcase down—he could unpack that later—and laid down on his bed.

He heard the front door open twice more as each of his roommates got back from their, probably less confusing, Thanksgiving break. There was slight chatter between them, but Bucky couldn’t bring himself to greet them. He just stared at the ceiling, thoughts passing through his brain before he could process them fully.

A bit after, he checked his phone. It was 10:08 pm. He should probably go to bed soon. He had class the next morning, and he didn’t want to be tired just because of some boy (though it wouldn’t be the first time). He slowly got up from his bed and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash the travel off of him.  
____________________

His class in the morning was just a boring class about the history of robotics. Thankfully, he didn’t share this class with Tony. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with his chaotic energy.  
He went throughout the day, and pretty much the whole week in a haze. When he had class or had to work on the project with Tony, he made small talk, but when Tony started talking about Steve, Bucky would quickly change the subject. If Tony noticed that, he didn’t mention it.

If he saw Steve or any of the Delta Kappa Psi brothers around, he would turn the other way. He wasn’t avoiding Steve, per se. Why would you think that? He was just too focused on finishing this semester, that’s all. Fine. He was avoiding Steve. But why shouldn’t he? That idiot kissed him! And even worse, Bucky liked it! He was trying so hard to not catch feelings, but he worried that he already had. That would explain those pesky butterflies in Bucky’s stomach whenever he now thought about Steve...or the kiss.

But Bucky was not going to approach Steve himself. He’d be like John Mulaney and keep all his feelings one place, and then die. He knew Steve would probably be worried that Bucky hadn’t texted him. Bucky had sent him a meme at least once a day. But for Bucky to actually talk to Steve, that meant he had to confront his feelings, but he wasn’t sure how to do that or if he wanted to do that.

Turns out that Steve did have to say something, which he made clear a week after the kiss.

Bucky was drinking his second coffee of the day, just chilling in the library looking over some notes from one of his classes. He was so absorbed in his studying that he didn’t notice that someone sat next to him, until that someone cleared their throat.

Bucky jumped and turned to look at the intruder to find out it was Steve. He must have gone through at least five different emotions all at once.

“Steve!” Bucky uttered, breathlessly.

“Bucky,” replied Steve. He paused for a good while as Bucky stared at him and then asked, “Are you avoiding me?”

“No.”

“Because I would understand why.” Steve sighed. “What I did last week was incredibly inappropriate, and I can understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore.”  
Bucky looked down, thinking. “...Why did you do it?”

“You mean kiss you?” Steve asked. 

“No, how you talked to my mom,” Bucky deadpanned. “Of course the kiss!”

“Yeah,” drew out Steve. “I’m sorry about that. I know we aren’t in an actual relationship. It’s just—” Steve paused, looking everywhere but at Bucky. He seemed to settle on something. “I like you, Bucky. I really like you. And faking being your boyfriend added more to that feeling.”

Bucky looked back down, and then back at Steve. “You mean _like_ like?” he muttered.

Steve laughed quietly. “Yeah. _Like_ like.”

“Um.” Oh boy. Here goes nothing. “Um, I might _like_ like you, too?”

Steve stared at Bucky.

“You know what?” Bucky declared, starting to put away his laptop. “Forget it! It’s nothing!” Bucky had never actually had to confront his feelings in this way before. As far as he knew, none of his past crushes had ever liked him back, so he reverted to a comfortable disregard.

Before Bucky could zip up his backpack, Steve put his hand on Bucky’s forearm. Bucky stared at it.

Steve pulled his arm away. “Hey, would you maybe want to go on a date sometime?” he asked. “But this time for real?”

Bucky thought for a bit, overthinking every possible situation that could happen. Fuck it. “Yeah,” Bucky whispered. “I think I would like that.”

“Okay,” responded Steve. “I’ll—I’ll text you.”

Steve moved to get up, but decided against it. He scooted closer to Bucky, his face close enough to Bucky’s that he could feel Steve’s breath on his cheek.

“Is this okay?” Steve asked.

“Yes,” Bucky responded, slightly out of breath.

Steve moved in closer, placing his hand on the side of Bucky’s face, and kissed him softly. This time Bucky had the chance to kiss back. Their mouths moved in sync, Bucky’s heart beating out of his chest. He had never really thought that the library could be that romantic of a place, but he couldn’t care less where they were. In that moment he felt that there could never be a more romantic place than the lumpy, stained couch in the corner of the library that they were on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue will be posted next weeks!!  
> Follow me on tumblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_


	8. Epilogue

The semester came to a close. Finals went by in a flash, but Bucky felt pretty confident about them. His and Tony’s project turned out working wonderfully, earning them each an A. Bucky wasn’t slick, and Sam and Natasha noticed that he was in a very good mood, despite the stress of finals. One night they cornered him in their apartment, causing him to embarrassingly admit that Steve and him weren’t actually dating up until recently, how the whole thing kind of snowballed, how Steve had kissed him on Thanksgiving, and how now Bucky had a boyfriend. He emphasized multiple times that it wasn't right and how he had felt guilty keeping it from them. Both of his friends were a little upset that he had lied to them for so long, and rightfully so, but overall they were happy for him.

He ended up telling Tony after one of their shared finals. Steve was waiting outside of the classroom to meet Bucky, and he decided to come clean. Tony, with mocked offense, asked them why they didn’t tell him sooner. (“You can be even more over dramatic than Bucky sometimes,” Steve told him. “Who knows how you would have reacted?”)

Bucky headed home for winter break. He and Steve hung out almost every day making up for the lost time due to their denial. (Well, mostly Bucky’s.) Bucky met Steve’s mother who was one of the sweetest people he had ever met. Steve often came over and entertained his youngest sisters and charmed both of his parents even more. They both gave each other a gift for each of their respective winter holidays. As the break continued on, Bucky reflected back on the past semester and how Steve and his relationship developed. He couldn’t believe that it all started just because he was too embarrassed to tell his friends that some random Grindr boy had stood him up. He realized that maybe he had been a bit too over dramatic about some of their interactions, and that he probably had developed a crush on Steve much earlier than he had realized. This school year was supposed to be his year, and maybe it was. It hadn’t panned out like Bucky had planned it, but maybe that wasn’t so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I want to again thank Nika and Elena for their help on this fic!
> 
> You can find me on umblr: antisocial-burrito  
> and twitter: @Linh_Cinder_


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